Between two favorite trade fairs, Heimtextil in Frankfurt and Maison & Objet in Paris, I scheduled a weekend of retail reconnaissance in Copenhagen. I’m glad I did! There was so much to see—shops, boutiques and department stores with unique messages and fabulous visual displays. Among the … [Read more...]
Valentine’s Day: Tokens of Affection at Brown Thomas
One of the happiest outcomes of attending Showcase, the annual trade fair of curated Irish products, is that I also get to shop Dublin’s robust retail scene. Brown Thomas is at the top of my must-see list. During Showcase, which takes place in mid-January each year, Valentine’s Day is always the … [Read more...]
Retail Energy in Paris
Over the past three years, we have teamed up on a number of seminars and webinars about best practices in retail visual display. If attendance at our June AmericasMart’s Apparel Mart webinar program is any indicator, audiences are appreciating our unique perspective. They are drawn to our combined … [Read more...]
First Mall Visit Since Stay-at-Home Orders
Malls and retail stores are opening up in SoCal, albeit slowly. Still, it was good to see a bit of life on the bricks-and-mortar scene on my first trip to a mall since stay-at-home orders were issued in mid-March. At the Shops at Mission Viejo this week, department-store anchors Macy’s and … [Read more...]
Halloween, Harvest and Christmas Will Still Come
Are fourth-quarter celebrations at risk, given the current Coronavirus crisis? That’s a question I’ve been hearing for the past several weeks. It was top-of-mind as I prepared The Return to Happy Holidays™, my seasonal color and trend forecast for Halloween, Harvest and Christmas assortments. If … [Read more...]
Time For Less Trend Product?
Is our obsession with color trends killing the planet? A Fast Company article by Elizabeth Segran asks just that question. The piece chides us with numbers that reveal our wastefulness—like how many times we wear an item before banishing it from our closet (down 36% to seven to 10 times since 2000), … [Read more...]
Lessons Learned from Halloween 2017
Those who create retail assortments rarely get a full view of what happens to products they develop and select at the fateful point of purchase. Which items really made cash registers ring? Which in-store displays actually swayed customers to buy? Not knowing the answers to these questions can feel … [Read more...]
Pets and Halloween
When two very popular subjects collide in time and space, the results can be explosively profitable! That’s what’s happening with pet products and Halloween right now. Pets+ Magazine recently reported that pet-related stocks “are crushing it” in the market these days. Bloomberg states, “An … [Read more...]
Retail Reconnaissance Made Easy
If you are a product-development specialist, retail buyer, packaging designer or a visual-display professional, reading the next few paragraphs could very well save you hours and hours of time! After 30 years in the décor forecast business, The Trend Curve has its own proven approach to both … [Read more...]
More Earnings in Your Halloween Goody Bag!
The Trend Curve has always believed in the potential of Halloween. Now we have even more reason to get behind it—and so do you. According to the newest findings of the National Retail Federation, Halloween Spending is expected to reach $8.4 in 2016. This represents 12% year-over-year growth, … [Read more...]